Art God: Wes Borland

I constantly doodled on our walls back when I was a kid, played with bubble gums to make web-like designs on the carpet, and soaked robots in acetone to watch them burn. My parents would scold me, but the feeling of creating something out of nothing still made me happy. Art was something I believe was already embedded in me.

My obsession with art only spiraled deeper into warm sweet intimacy when I was in 4th grade. I saw this guitar player with grey and yellow paint on his face, small orbs or red lights on his neck, and round big black eyes (in black sclera contacts). I thought he was scary and awesome at the same time. Even then, he was such a living, breathing piece of art.

His name is Wes Borland.

Wes on the Limp Bizkit’s video Break Stuff

Growing up, my friends and I would emulate him and do his moves, the air guitar style. I studied guitar playing just so I could play like him. I later learned that this person not only played guitar; he also designed all of Limp Bizkit’s album covers.

This one’s from Limp Bizkit’s Debut album “Three Dollar Bill Ya’ll”
It’s very simple that’s why I love it. I still have the cassette tape in my room.
I remember drawing this on every notebook I had back when I was still in school.
 

And this one’s from Limp Bizkit’s current album “Gold Cobra”
 
He also made the paintings for the album covers of a few projects.

James “Munky” Shaffer’s experimental side project “Fear and the Nervous System”
I have a thing about anatomy and I just love this piece.

 
After a lot of experimental projects, Wes formed his own band called Black Light Burns in 2005 and released their debut Album Cruel Melody in 2007.

This featured other music gods Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails), Josh Eustis (Puscifer) and Josh Freese (Weezer, A Perfect Circle, Guns N’ Roses, Devo).

This is the cover art of the outer packaging of Cruel Melody.
By the time this came out I was trying to re-learn how to paint, especially shading. Wes did a marvelous job on this one.
 

And this one’s the sleeve on the inside of the CD.

 
In 2008, Black Light Burns released a follow-up LP/DVD of their unreleased B-side material, Cover Your Heart and the Anvil Pants Odyssey.

 
And finally after a not-so-long wait, Black Light Burns will be releasing its 2nd Album, The Moment You Realize You’re Going To Fall, on August 14, 2012. The band has released a track list and a new cover:

The Moment You Realize You’re Going To Fall
 
This will be the first thing I’ll be getting as soon as August starts. Two songs from this CD, Scream Hallelujah and Splayed, can now be found everywhere on the web. Listening to these two songs just adds to the excitement of getting my hands on the full set.

Wes Borland is not only an amazing musician; he’s also one of art’s greatest treasures. An individual who has redesigned and redefined art, and someone who continuously inspires people like me to create more things and improve more through art, he surely is an art god in the flesh.

 
The Author:

Aj Aviado is a musician, a painter, a loyal follower of art and everything related to it, and a marketing consultant for You the Designer—the absolute source of design news, tutorials and inspirational graphic designs. Check out You the Designer on Google+.

If you want to check out Aj Aviado’s art look for The Spiral Mutation on Facebook.